Royal ‘cash for favours’ castle wipes all names from VIP list on website including Prince Charles’ controversial Saudi donor
- Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz has been deleted from the castle’s website
- A major donor to Prince Charles’s charities, he had been listed as the top patron
- The list of honorary patrons had been displayed on the site for many years
Panicked courtiers have wiped the names of all charity donors from the Castle of Mey’s website to deal with the royal ‘cash for favours’ storm.
The name of the Saudi tycoon at the centre of the controversy, Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz, has been deleted from the castle’s website.
A major donor to Prince Charles’s charities, he had been listed as the top honorary patron, complete with a biography.
But Mahfouz has now been removed from the ‘friends and patrons’ section, along with broadcasters Alan Titchmarsh and Ken Bruce, as well as actress Susan Hampshire.
The list of honorary patrons had been displayed on the site for many years.
The name of the Saudi tycoon at the centre of the controversy, Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz (pictured right with Prince Charles), has been deleted from the castle’s website
In 2015, it was revealed that an area near the castle had been renamed Mahfouz Wood in his honour after he reportedly donated £370,000 to the castle’s restoration.
The names of Mahfouz, his father and four brothers were also to be placed around the castle’s gardens.
It’s unlikely such a move would have taken place without Charles’s approval, given the level of his personal interest in the castle.
Mahfouz is believed to have previously offered to pay half the then estimated £300,000 cost towards replacing or repairing all of the property’s 93 windows.
The Castle of Mey, on the north coast of Scotland, was owned by the Queen Mother and is where Charles stays for a week each August.
Prince of Wales, known as the Duke of Rothesay while in Scotland, touring the Granary accommodation at the Castle of Mey with Lord Thurso (left) and Michael Fawcett (right)
Mahfouz has now been removed from the ‘friends and patrons’ section, along with broadcasters Alan Titchmarsh (centre) and Ken Bruce, as well as actress Susan Hampshire
Last November Mahfouz was dropped as an honorary patron, but later reinstated.
A spokesman for the Prince’s Foundation, a group for Charles’s charitable interests including the Castle of Mey, blamed ‘human error involving a junior member of staff at the Castle of Mey updating the website’.
Charles’s aide, Michael Fawcett, stepped down as chief executive of the Foundation amid allegations he’d used his influence to help secure a gong for Mahfouz, who received an honorary CBE in 2016.
The foundation said it was investigating. Last night a spokesman declined to comment.
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